[Reader-list] Michael Moore: The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

From: Michael Moore

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this
country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being
used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it:
After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their
war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the
pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion
dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must
soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every
dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as
they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they
are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to
make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just
read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New
York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of
the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit
from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled
investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the
assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial
institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of
dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad
assets of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now
they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is
lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the
bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about.
Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact
amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of
his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't
figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic!
Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must
pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the
price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING
in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this
bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got
to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was
triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with
people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing
their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too
many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really
couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people
declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this
simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage
"crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that
has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top
shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure
their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the
rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich
suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400
million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war
immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are
staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping
Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a
chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something
-- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be
sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess
they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing
down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich
have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now
to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to
universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be
in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the
barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of
quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the
country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here
to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of
you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences
of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let
there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working
citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw
up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint at aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to
know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent
golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat
cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of
California, these top managers will continue to receive
million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no
direct ownership given to the American people for the money being
handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive
billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going
to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO
guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so
many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a
gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the
first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s
of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make
good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act
like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years.
The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the
votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over
Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now
they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the
century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do
this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when
President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS
STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2
http://truemajority.wiredforchange.com/event/distributedEventCalendar.jsp